Dominick Bui

We came across Dominick a few months ago on flickr and found a selection of great photos. There was a lot of shots of skateboarding, good looking girls, partying and a sense of a care-free lifestyle that involved reoccurring characters throughout this visual diary of this young photographer’s life. The real gem was found when his blog “Bad Seeds” was brought to our attention. This guy really seems to go everywhere with his camera, so much so that it wouldn’t be a surprise if there were shots of his ceiling when he’s sleeping. Dominick and his friends seem to be living the dream and at such a young age, we wanted to find out more about Dominick Bui and his “Bad Seeds” project. So, we shot a few emails his way and happened to snag an interview. Enjoy.

To start off, give us an introduction.
Can you tell us your name, age and where you’re from?

My name is Dominick Bui, I am 18 years old. I was born in Philadelphia PA. I grew up in North East Philadelphia for 13 years but I now reside in Orange County CA.

Other than photo, what’s one thing you love?

I don’t really do anything. I like to send letters and watch movies – I watch a lot of movies – but other than those 2 things I like to see my friends go at it. Other than that, I love a fun time and other than that I love alone time.

How long have you been taking photos for?

I started taking photographs when I was 17 and shooting film has taken me under its wing ever since. You could imagine photography as a fat disgusting creature eating all of my money, drinking my sweat, tears and blood and sucking the soul out of my life. Since I put a camera in my hand, its all I ever do and it’s pretty cool. It beats school or sitting around and being sad.

What’s your favourite subject matter to shoot?

I like shooting my friends in general, they’re all interesting characters with great stories.

What do you like about photography?

I like taking photographs because I get a physical copy of what I like about the people I shoot. Those little things that people do get me stoked and it’s great to have a reminder of that person on a piece of fancy paper. And honestly, I have nothing better to do.

Where do you feel like your work is headed?

My work is headed where it’s gonna head. Right now I’m just doing my own thing. Of course I have inspiration and influences but that’s a whole different story. If it’s a career then so be it, but I doubt it will be. I’d love to take photographs for a living but let’s be realistic: I’m not that great and there’s thousands of photographers out there that are way better. Right now I’m just having fun with it and getting myself into unpayable debts.

Do you have anything coming up that you’re excited about?

For the past year or so I’ve been working on a thick book type magazine thing. The book is gonna have 3 different covers and I’m also trying to make myself a simple website just with links to my photos and all. Something somewhat cool… i think they call it a shameless self plug.

For an extremely long time I’ve also been trying to make a few t shirts for gits and shiggles. The entire operation is called ‘Bad Seeds’, it’s pretty cool but it’s been in the same exact spot for months: the internet, which is kind of lame. It’s just this idea that’s been around for a while but I just never took action to give it physical form. for now Bad Seeds is a pet name given to all of my photographs and shitty/terrible drawn-on-the-toilet drawings and etches. I do have intentions to have the small book into a fully developed brainchild in December. I have a friend in New York that’ll get some copies of the book around the Brooklyn area and I will have them all over orange county in cool little shops. I hope to make it free but with all of my debts it’ll probably be for sale for really cheap. So pretty much just be on the prowl for books/zines/stickers in December.

A serious suggestion, check out Dominick’s blog which is updated all the time. He just recently started selling some black and white prints through his blog as well so grab one of those before they’re gone. And make sure you check back in december. We’ll keep an eye out and let you know what happens with Dominick and Bad Seeds.